Computer Graphics World

The stereo team on Disney/Pixar's Up—Pixar's fi rst stereoscopic fi lm—worked in tandem with the director. ey're running on guts, and gall, and pure, unadulterated fear—their usual jet fuel. But there's a little extra juice fl owing nowadays as the studios make big bets on 3D animation, stereo 3D, and digitizing the production pipeline all the way through to distribution, while the US economy shivers like a kid with some serious monsters under the bed. e problem is the audiences: ey're being more discriminat- ing about how they spend their money. ey've got choices, and lots of them. Hollywood has been nagging and pushing for the digital transition to get people in the theaters, and all the while, audiences are choosing to stay home. Attendance numbers have fl attened out in the past three years, and worse, DVD sales and rentals are also down. e studios and the theaters have fi nally organized themselves into a mutual admiration society, and both are driving toward the worldwide transition to digital. And they're realizing that they might see all the theaters turn digital, only to fi nd attendance lacking. So, rather than digital becoming a pleasant dream, it could easily turn into a night- mare—from which Hollywood awakes screaming. Instead, the industry has found its lullaby: stereograph- ic 3D. Big-screen movies drawing more people into the theaters and sucking more money out of pockets is a beau- tiful vision for the moguls, and it's enough to bring stereo 3D back from exile after several disastrous attempts to go mainstream. Suddenly, studio execs are talking as if they invented stereoscopic 3D movies. And, the next step is for stereo 3D to fi nd its way to TVs in the home, so that getting a new DVD in the house will be a good reason to gather around in front of the ol' US economy shivers like a kid with some serious monsters under the bed. e problem is the audiences: ey're being more discriminat- ing about how they spend their money. ey've got choices, and lots of them. Hollywood has been nagging and pushing for the digital transition to get people in the theaters, and all the while, audiences are choosing to stay home. Attendance numbers have fl attened out in the past three years, and worse, DVD sales and rentals are also down. e studios and the theaters have fi nally organized themselves into a mutual admiration society, and both are driving toward the worldwide transition to digital. And they're realizing that they might see all the theaters turn digital, only to fi nd attendance lacking. So, rather than digital becoming a pleasant dream, it could easily turn into a night- mare—from which Hollywood awakes screaming. Instead, the industry has found its lullaby: stereograph- ic 3D. Big-screen movies drawing more people into the theaters and sucking more money out of pockets is a beau- tiful vision for the moguls, and it's enough to bring stereo 3D back from exile after several disastrous attempts to go mainstream. Suddenly, studio execs are talking as if they invented stereoscopic 3D movies. And, the next step is for stereo 3D to fi nd its way to TVs in the home, so that getting a new DVD in the house will be a good reason to gather around in front of the ol' The stereo team on Disney/Pixar's Up—Pixar's Up—Pixar's Up— fi rst stereoscopic fi lm—worked in tandem with the director. Pixar's ey're running on guts, and gall, and pure, unadulterated fear—their usual jet fuel. But there's a little extra juice fl owing nowadays as the studios make big bets on 3D animation, stereo 3D, and digitizing the production pipeline all the way through to distribution, while the US economy shivers like a kid with some serious monsters under gall, and pure, unadulterated fear—their usual jet fuel. But there's a little extra juice fl owing nowadays as the studios make big bets on 3D animation, stereo 3D, and digitizing the production pipeline all the way through to distribution, while the US economy shivers like a kid with some serious monsters under July 2009 72 ■ ■ ■ Stereoscopy ey're running on guts, and ©2009 Disney/Pixar.

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